Uranus

Voyager 2, now seven years and 1.5 billion miles away from Earth, is fast approaching Uranus and already transmitting occasional television pictures, but the transmissions so far tell more about the hardy spacecraft than the distant planet. They demonstrate that the robot Voyager has survived its long journey, past Jupiter in 1979 and past Saturn in 1981, and is on course to fly within 66,000 miles of Uranus next January, officials here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported. The spacecraft is 165 million miles from Uranus and traveling toward it at 40,000 mph. In the pictures from Voyager, Uranus still looks more like a fuzzy tennis ball than the third largest planet in the solar system, a gaseous body roughly four times the size of Earth.

The equinox officially arrives tonight at 11:09, marking the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The full moon will also peak Wednesday night-Thursday morning, making for an extremely bright "super harvest moon. " And as an added bonus, Jupiter will appear right next to the moon. For the first time in almost two decades, the Northern Hemisphere's autumn is beginning on the night of a full Moon.

MONDAY: Prepare for week alive with activity in the evening sky. We begin with the moon pairing up with the brilliant planet Venus. The joining of these two forces makes for an excellent celestial performance. Both crescent and planet set shortly after twilight in the Southwest, so be sure to get your views in early. TUESDAY: If you have ever wanted to locate the planet Uranus, tonight`s THE night! This evening Venus lies just south of Uranus, pointing the way to the dim pale-green planet.

Sunday-Monday: Tiny Pluto reaches opposition this week. Even with large telescopes the distant world only appears as a small, dim point of light. Pluto currently resides in the area of northern Scorpius. Tuesday: This morning the moon scoots north of another distant planet, Uranus. Uranus can be seen with binoculars and even the naked eye from very dark viewing sites. With telescopes the planet appears as a small gray-green unstarlike disk. Wednesday: This morning the moon sails north of Jupiter.

Analysis of observations made as Voyager 2 sailed past Uranus last month provides strong evidence that the planet is covered by an ocean of superheated water 5,000 miles deep that encloses a rocky but largely molten core roughly the size of Earth. Although the existence of that ocean had been hypothesized for some time, the new data are the strongest yet. The temperature of the ocean, thought to be formed of melted comets, is believed to reach thousands of degrees. Because of extreme pressure from the weight of an atmosphere thousands of miles thick, the water does not boil.

Like North America in the early 19th century, the solar system today is mapped but largely unexplored. Less than half its breadth has been seen close- up by human instruments, and vast unknown regions remain. But the planetary equivalent of the Lewis and Clark expedition is under way, with the next batch of dispatches from the frontier expected next month. A spacecraft called Voyager 2 is the explorer, and its next stop is the giant, almost completely unknown planet Uranus -- a place so distant that its discovery two centuries ago instantly doubled the size of the known solar system.

Sunday-Monday: Tiny Pluto reaches opposition this week. Even with large telescopes the distant world only appears as a small, dim point of light. Pluto currently resides in the area of northern Scorpius. Tuesday: This morning the moon scoots north of another distant planet, Uranus. Uranus can be seen with binoculars and even the naked eye from very dark viewing sites. With telescopes the planet appears as a small gray-green unstarlike disk. Wednesday: This morning the moon sails north of Jupiter.

It's the 24th day of the year; 341 days are left in 1997. On this day: -- In 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of 1849. -- In 1908, the first Boy Scout troop was organized in Britain by Robert Baden-Powell. -- In 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90. -- In 1986, the Voyager 2 space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet of the solar system. -- In 1993, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died in Bethesda, Md., at age 84. -- Thought for today: "Honesty is the best policy, but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man."

AS THE VOYAGER 2 spacecraft sails past Uranus today, the payoff to watching humans 1.8 billion miles away will be far more meaningful and valuable than a collection of awe-inspiring snapshots. Some skeptics may ask: Is this trip really necessary? Should American taxpayers be spending more than half-a-billion dollars to go planet-hopping for 12 years, when we haven`t solved problems on Earth like an AIDS epidemic, Ethiopian famine, poverty, crime, homelessness and the threat of nuclear war?

Voyager 2`s spectacular trip through the planetary system of Uranus has left project scientists with a pleasant problem - what to name ten newly discovered moons and dozens of their surface features. Some of the researchers will meet today to review the pictures still coming back from Voyager to see how many names they will need. The five previously-discovered satellites of Uranus were named after characters in two Shakespearean plays and The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope. The moons Titania and Oberon were named after the king and queen of fairies in Midsummer Night`s Dream.

It's the 24th day of the year; 341 days are left in 1997. On this day: -- In 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of 1849. -- In 1908, the first Boy Scout troop was organized in Britain by Robert Baden-Powell. -- In 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90. -- In 1986, the Voyager 2 space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet of the solar system. -- In 1993, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died in Bethesda, Md., at age 84. -- Thought for today: "Honesty is the best policy, but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man."

By SHEILA L. WEINSTEIN, Special to the News/Sun-Sentinel, May 22, 1988

Everybody needs a little magic in his life, and this baker`s dozen of science fiction and fantasy is just the ticket. In A Wish Named Arnold, for instance, young Marguerite kept a wish in a brass egg, and its name was Arnold. Able to wish for anything she wants -- riches, fame, a movie career -- she chooses happiness for another. The Improper Princess named Cimorene (who says, "Nothing interesting seems to be proper") trades the "good" royal life for that of happy captivity in the lair of a dragon.

MONDAY: Prepare for week alive with activity in the evening sky. We begin with the moon pairing up with the brilliant planet Venus. The joining of these two forces makes for an excellent celestial performance. Both crescent and planet set shortly after twilight in the Southwest, so be sure to get your views in early. TUESDAY: If you have ever wanted to locate the planet Uranus, tonight`s THE night! This evening Venus lies just south of Uranus, pointing the way to the dim pale-green planet.

Analysis of observations made as Voyager 2 sailed past Uranus last month provides strong evidence that the planet is covered by an ocean of superheated water 5,000 miles deep that encloses a rocky but largely molten core roughly the size of Earth. Although the existence of that ocean had been hypothesized for some time, the new data are the strongest yet. The temperature of the ocean, thought to be formed of melted comets, is believed to reach thousands of degrees. Because of extreme pressure from the weight of an atmosphere thousands of miles thick, the water does not boil.

Voyager 2`s spectacular trip through the planetary system of Uranus has left project scientists with a pleasant problem - what to name ten newly discovered moons and dozens of their surface features. Some of the researchers will meet today to review the pictures still coming back from Voyager to see how many names they will need. The five previously-discovered satellites of Uranus were named after characters in two Shakespearean plays and The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope. The moons Titania and Oberon were named after the king and queen of fairies in Midsummer Night`s Dream.

AS THE VOYAGER 2 spacecraft sails past Uranus today, the payoff to watching humans 1.8 billion miles away will be far more meaningful and valuable than a collection of awe-inspiring snapshots. Some skeptics may ask: Is this trip really necessary? Should American taxpayers be spending more than half-a-billion dollars to go planet-hopping for 12 years, when we haven`t solved problems on Earth like an AIDS epidemic, Ethiopian famine, poverty, crime, homelessness and the threat of nuclear war?

A rare alignment of Pluto and its only known satellite, Charon, is giving astronomers a temporary new tool to study the solar system`s most distant planet, scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Friday. "It`s exciting for the astronomers," said Henry Fuhrmann of JPL. "It could help them find the relative sizes (of Pluto and the satellite) and how massive they are and what they`re made of." Scientists calculate the five-year alignment will occur every 124 years. This is the first time astronomers will be able to study it because Pluto was only discovered in 1930 and the satellite, Charon, was discovered in 1978.

The equinox officially arrives tonight at 11:09, marking the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The full moon will also peak Wednesday night-Thursday morning, making for an extremely bright "super harvest moon. " And as an added bonus, Jupiter will appear right next to the moon. For the first time in almost two decades, the Northern Hemisphere's autumn is beginning on the night of a full Moon.

Like North America in the early 19th century, the solar system today is mapped but largely unexplored. Less than half its breadth has been seen close- up by human instruments, and vast unknown regions remain. But the planetary equivalent of the Lewis and Clark expedition is under way, with the next batch of dispatches from the frontier expected next month. A spacecraft called Voyager 2 is the explorer, and its next stop is the giant, almost completely unknown planet Uranus -- a place so distant that its discovery two centuries ago instantly doubled the size of the known solar system.

Voyager 2, now seven years and 1.5 billion miles away from Earth, is fast approaching Uranus and already transmitting occasional television pictures, but the transmissions so far tell more about the hardy spacecraft than the distant planet. They demonstrate that the robot Voyager has survived its long journey, past Jupiter in 1979 and past Saturn in 1981, and is on course to fly within 66,000 miles of Uranus next January, officials here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported. The spacecraft is 165 million miles from Uranus and traveling toward it at 40,000 mph. In the pictures from Voyager, Uranus still looks more like a fuzzy tennis ball than the third largest planet in the solar system, a gaseous body roughly four times the size of Earth.